Thursday, February 8, 2007

Meanwhile...

Salon's Sidney Blumenthal reports that the Pentagon is planning for the aftermath of Bush's war escalation's failure!

Deep within the bowels of the Pentagon, policy planners are conducting secret meetings to discuss what to do in the worst-case scenario in Iraq about a year from today if and when President Bush's escalation of more than 20,000 troops fails, a participant in those discussions told me. None of those who are taking part in these exercises, shielded from the public view and the immediate scrutiny of the White House, believes that the so-called surge will succeed. On the contrary, everyone thinks it will not only fail to achieve its aims but also accelerate instability by providing a glaring example of U.S. incapacity and incompetence.

Yes, we're going to spend $27 billion more, risk 20,000 more American, and countless more Iraqi lives, for a purely political act of face-saving desperation, and the Pentagon's already planning its failure! And, of course, in an act of supreme cynical hypocrisy, seven Republican senators who opposed efforts to even debate a weak, non-binding resolution opposing the escalation now say they've changed their minds, and want the debate to go forward!

The war rages, Iraq burns, people die, Bush wants to escalate, and Senate Republicans scramble to find cover for having opposed merely talking about opposing Bush's planned atrocity! Yesterday, new Democratic Senator Jon Tester had the best response:

On the Senate floor a few moments ago, Jon Tester said that he's traveled all around his home state of Montana, and "not a single person told me we should debate about whether or not to have a debate on Iraq."